Monday, November 12, 2012

Crowding in schools



It is quite disturbing to note that   many matriculation schools have disproportionately huge strength; some of the have even above 10000 mark. Analysis of cross-country data shows that the optimum student strength of a well equipped school with qualified teachers is 3000-5000. A school having more than the optimum level is considered as unfit for harmonious schooling, in which students are able to get proper attention and care. Crowding of thousands of students in a cramped space is against the tenets of education. The foundation for the growth and development of an individual is laid during his schooling. When too many children are huddled in a single campus, often cramped without even the basic facilities essential amenities, it becomes naturally unsuited to provide proper education. The prospects of   a child receiving adequate attention and proper  facilities for sports, games and other extracurricular activities, which play a dominant role in molding the character, temperament and personality, will be thinly spread,   i.e. the facilities and amenities  per student get diminished in proportion to the rise in the total strength of students. Keeping in mind the above factors, rules do not allow a matriculation school to have more than four sections per class.  And in exceptional cases schools can seek approval for a fifth section, if needed, from the district inspector of matriculation schools. It is welcome move that the school education department has instructed institutions to restrict the number of sections for each class to five or fewer, in keeping with the Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools formulated in 1990. Therefore, it is surprising and shocking, to say the least, to know that one school in Chennai City is having student strength of 12000, and a number of other schools in the state, especially in Chennai and in the Salem-Namakkal belt,  are having student strength much above the level fixed by the government.   What has the school education department officials been doing all these years? Why have they turned a blind eye to such a nefarious act by the unscrupulous school managements, whose only motive is to earn hefty profit? Is it not an act of profit maximisation at the cost of   school going children?  Such an undesirable act of dumping too many children in cramped premises by the school managements should not have been possible without the connivance of government officials.  It appears that corruption and bribery are the reason behind official apathy. Therefore, the government should order a high level inquiry into this grave act of permitting too many batches in a class beyond the prescribed limit and give severe punishment to those officials found guilty. The department of school education should strictly enforce the institutions to restrict the number of sections for each class to five or fewer, in keeping with the Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools formulated in 1990.
 Dr.C.Murukadas, The Times of India, Nov.10, 2012

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